Pleasant departure from VIP delay

Chief minister Nitish Kumar recently sprang a surprise arriving before schedule at a function in a city hotel. Against his official arrival time scheduled at 10.45am, he reached before 10.30am. Most of the guests presumed that the chief minister would reach at least half-an-hour behind the schedule and were leisurely sipping tea or chatting with other guests. His sudden arrival made them hurry to the hall,” recalled an employee of the hotel, insisting that Nitish had not followed the “VIP entry timing”. “Everybody presumes that the VIP will be late,” he said. Ministers pointed out that the delay was often deliberate. “In the initial days after I became a minister, I was asked to inaugurate a function at 10.30 am. I reached the venue on dot. But the place was empty and the organisers were arranging chairs. I was told to return an hour later,” recalled a BJP minister.

Sweet slip of tongue

Former Union minister and chairperson of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Karan Singh had a slip of tongue at the inaugural function of the council’s regional office in Patna. He addressed the Bihar chief minister as Pradhan Mantri (PM) Nitish Kumarji. He rectified himself immediately and readdressed Nitish as “Bihar ke Mukhyamantri”. “But it was a nice slip of tongue and must have made Nitishji happy,” said a person in the audience, stressing that the bone of contention between Nitish and Narendra Modi was their wish to be a prime ministerial candidate. Former ideologue of the BJP, Govindacharya, poured cold water on the ambition of the both suggesting that Sushma Swaraj and Sharad Yadav would make better PMs than Modi or Nitish.

Corporate culture

The LJP boss, Ram Vilas Paswan, appears keen to turn his party into a corporate house. He was recently seen distributing photo identity cards to the party’s district office-bearers, who in turn are expected to distribute the same among the members they make. “Office-bearers coming to meetings without their identity cards are being asked to leave the office premises,” said an office-bearer of the party, wondering how a party that swears by socialist leader like Ram Manohar Lohia could opt for the corporate style of functioning. “Wonder if it will help in increasing our votes,” he said.

Old habit dies hard

Patna commissioner K.P. Ramaiah called a block evelopment officer after he received complaints related to the housing scheme for the poor. After some time, Ramaiah noticed a man sitting in front of him giving a sheepish look. After a while, the commissioner realised he was the same officer called more than an hour ago. “I did not call you to sit here. o to the complainants and find solutions to their problems,” Ramaiah said tersely. “Gauging the mood of senior officers before taking any step is a old habit,” said another officer.